Gale Norton to Resign

The worst Interior Secretary since James Watt is set to step down.

Gale Norton is expected to announce her resignation today after serving more than five years as secretary of the Interior pursuing an expansively pro-development agenda in the West, sources said.

….Her background working for logging and mining interests made her one of Bush’s most controversial cabinet nominees.

…Under her watch, the department stripped protection from areas previously managed as wilderness, opened up forests to increased logging, reopened Yellowstone to snowmobiles and pressed federal land managers to speed up drilling for gas on public lands.

Her resignation is probably related to her close relationship with Jack Abramoff, through the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (an Orwellian name if there ever was one). But, the most important thing, from the Republican’s perspective, is that she raped the environment with discretion:

In the National Journal Political Insider’s Poll last year, she was voted the second-most underrated Bush cabinet secretary by Republican operatives who credited her with pursuing Bush’s ~~anti-environmental~~ pro-development agenda with a minimum of bad publicity.

Good riddance, but I don’t really expect her replacement to be any better.

7 Comments

Grandma M on March 10, 2006 at 1:24 pm

Gale Norton was successful in operating mostly under the radar. Or, maybe she just got lucky, because there were so many other issues, and our Dems have mostly morphed into one large Neville Chamberlain.

Karl Rove is probably out looking for an invading and pillaging HUN type to take her place.

idredit on March 10, 2006 at 3:27 pm

Well let’s see who’s off the list of potential candidates..

This week, Bush’s travel arranger was promoted.
True to form, no experience necessary. The appointment of a White House Staffer who arranges presidential domestic travel to Executive Director of the Homeland Security Advisory Committees was just announced.

Inexperienced 28-Year-Old Bush Staffer Appointed to Critical Homeland Security Post(via Thinkprogress)

“He’ll will now be providing “strategic counsel” to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff”
- rumi on March 10, 2006 at 3:46 pm
  
  He graduated from Iowa in 1999 and then to the WH in 2000. He has absolutely no management experience and very little experience of any value to the appointment.
  
  That will make him usable for this…
  
  One group that Hoelscher will be coordinating with is the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which includes top executives from BellSouth, Boeing, and Microsoft.
  Former White House staffer named to head DHS policy committee
  
  Hoelscher launched his political career after graduating from the University of Iowa in 1999. During the 2000 campaign, he worked for Wisconsin’s Republican Party, campaign finance records show. In 2001, he was a political coordinator in the White House Office of Political Affairs, which was run by Ken Mehlman, who was Bush’s Midwest regional political director in the 2000 campaign and is now the Republican National Committee chairman. (Mehlman didn’t respond to an interview request.)
  
  In 2004, Hoelscher worked for the RNC. The following year he became Homeland Security’s White House liaison, “obtaining information from the department,” said Joanna Gonzalez, a department spokeswoman. During Katrina, he helped deploy volunteers from the department to the Gulf Coast, she said. The congressional report on Katrina noted that some of those employees had trouble making it to the region because of departmental miscommunications.
  
  It’s obvious that GWB has no respect for the American people or DHS.
  - idredit on March 10, 2006 at 5:51 pm
    
    Great catch.
    
    With lessons learned from Katrina, it means we’re on our own. Beyond duct tape and plastic rolls, each family must have in place a safety, emergency preparedness plan.

DaveW on March 10, 2006 at 1:32 pm

Saddam would make a seamless replacement for Norton. Too bad he’s momentarily unavailable. And Reagan’s dead, and Abramoff probably won’t be able to accept the post. What to do, what to do?

Got it! After Cheney is driven from office he could take over. Think of the species he could extinguish from the formerly public lands with his little weapon cache. And he might get some more Republican cronies while he’s at it.

wilfred on March 10, 2006 at 2:28 pm

Let’s play a guessing game!

What deforestation advocate will get the nod?

Don’t let the bulldozers hit you in the ass on the way out Gale.

Street Kid on March 10, 2006 at 3:48 pm

Good riddance, but I don’t really expect her replacement to be any better.

makes 2 of us.

Grandma M on March 10, 2006 at 1:24 pm

Gale Norton was successful in operating mostly under the radar. Or, maybe she just got lucky, because there were so many other issues, and our Dems have mostly morphed into one large Neville Chamberlain.

Karl Rove is probably out looking for an invading and pillaging HUN type to take her place.
- idredit on March 10, 2006 at 3:27 pm
  
  Well let’s see who’s off the list of potential candidates..
  
  This week, Bush’s travel arranger was promoted.
  True to form, no experience necessary. The appointment of a White House Staffer who arranges presidential domestic travel to Executive Director of the Homeland Security Advisory Committees was just announced.
  
  Inexperienced 28-Year-Old Bush Staffer Appointed to Critical Homeland Security Post(via Thinkprogress)
  
  “He’ll will now be providing “strategic counsel” to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff”
  - rumi on March 10, 2006 at 3:46 pm
    
    He graduated from Iowa in 1999 and then to the WH in 2000. He has absolutely no management experience and very little experience of any value to the appointment.
    
    That will make him usable for this…
    
    One group that Hoelscher will be coordinating with is the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which includes top executives from BellSouth, Boeing, and Microsoft.
    Former White House staffer named to head DHS policy committee
    
    Hoelscher launched his political career after graduating from the University of Iowa in 1999. During the 2000 campaign, he worked for Wisconsin’s Republican Party, campaign finance records show. In 2001, he was a political coordinator in the White House Office of Political Affairs, which was run by Ken Mehlman, who was Bush’s Midwest regional political director in the 2000 campaign and is now the Republican National Committee chairman. (Mehlman didn’t respond to an interview request.)
    
    In 2004, Hoelscher worked for the RNC. The following year he became Homeland Security’s White House liaison, “obtaining information from the department,” said Joanna Gonzalez, a department spokeswoman. During Katrina, he helped deploy volunteers from the department to the Gulf Coast, she said. The congressional report on Katrina noted that some of those employees had trouble making it to the region because of departmental miscommunications.
    
    It’s obvious that GWB has no respect for the American people or DHS.
    - idredit on March 10, 2006 at 5:51 pm
      
      Great catch.
      
      With lessons learned from Katrina, it means we’re on our own. Beyond duct tape and plastic rolls, each family must have in place a safety, emergency preparedness plan.
DaveW on March 10, 2006 at 1:32 pm

Saddam would make a seamless replacement for Norton. Too bad he’s momentarily unavailable. And Reagan’s dead, and Abramoff probably won’t be able to accept the post. What to do, what to do?

Got it! After Cheney is driven from office he could take over. Think of the species he could extinguish from the formerly public lands with his little weapon cache. And he might get some more Republican cronies while he’s at it.
wilfred on March 10, 2006 at 2:28 pm

Let’s play a guessing game!

What deforestation advocate will get the nod?

Don’t let the bulldozers hit you in the ass on the way out Gale.
Street Kid on March 10, 2006 at 3:48 pm

Good riddance, but I don’t really expect her replacement to be any better.

makes 2 of us.

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